7 The third reason is, in relation to the 2004 English curriculum for junior high
school, this study is directed to uncover if the frequently used LLS students apply are relevant to the strategic competence and attitude toward learning the language it
proposes. Hopefully, the result of this study will help teachers to select the proper
strategic competence from the curriculum to teach to their students. It is also hoped that teachers will find better ways to encourage their students to have better attitudes
towards learning English. By applying appropriate language learning strategies and strategic competence and having a good attitude toward learning English, hopefully,
students will be able to learn English better. Brown 1991:70 suggested that by adopting an effective set of personal strategies and having self-defines goals,
someone can approach language learning with confidence and with the assurance that shehe will have at least some measure of success.
The findings of this study may also be used by textbook writers as well as the curriculum makers to design textbooks and curriculums that meet the students’ LLS
to boost their language learning outcome.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study is restricted on the issue of language learning strategies that the junior high school students apply in learning English. This study further investigates
the most frequent LLS applied by students categorized as good language learners that help them learn English effectively and to identify if there is a relationship between
the LLS students apply with their achievement in learning the language. It is also to explore if students’ frequently used LLS are relevant to the strategic competence and
8 positive attitude toward learning English proposed by 2004 English curriculum for
the junior high school. Since one purpose of this study is to find good language learners’ LLS, the
study is carried out in three classes in three best junior high schools based on their achievement in the National Examination UN in Cirebon. The schools are coded as
SMP A, SMP B and SMP C. The participants involved are the students of the class 3E of SMP A, those of the class 3A of SMP B and those of the class 3E of SMP C.
1.6 Research Methodology
This study is to explore the most frequent LLS used by both the overall respondents and those categorized as good language learners, the correlation between
student’s LLS and their achievement in learning the language and the LLS that are relevant to strategic competence and attitude towards learning English proposed by
the 2004 English curriculum. It employs the descriptive and correlative quantitative procedures. The descriptive procedure is used to investigate the most frequent LLS
used by both the overall respondents and the students categorized as good language learners, and the frequently used LLS that are relevant to strategic competence and
attitude towards learning English proposed by the 2004 English curriculum. Meanwhile, the correlation procedure is used to find the correlation between
students’ LLS and their achievement in learning the language. The Ex-post facto design is applied to explore this relation. Hatch and Farhady 1982 suggested that
the design is often used when the researcher wants to look at the type andor degree
9 of relationship between two variables. The data is then analyzed using Statistical
Package for the Social Science SPSS version 12.0. The data in this study were collected through 1 questionnaire adapted from
Strategy Inventory for Language Learning SILL developed by Oxford 1990 to investigate students’ learning strategies in learning English, 2 document analysis to
find the students’ achievement in learning English, and 3 interviews to get further information on the LLS students apply and to crosscheck the information obtained
from the questionnaire. The methodology will be further discussed in chapter III.
1.7 Thesis Organization
